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Slant: Short opinion pieces and rumor-chasing notes News: News: News: CORPORATE WELFARE The Eugene City Council plans to vote March 7 on a tax break proposal that could give Hynix Semiconductor a future windfall of as much as $100 million. The Hynix windfall would be a direct hit on state school funding. Thousands of school supporters recently rallied in Salem calling for cutting such corporate tax break schemes as a way to restore funding for education. The council vote, without a public hearing, will likely be the only public vote on the potentially huge tax give-away. The enterprise zone program that the council plans to vote on could also give millions of dollars to corporations building sprawl-inducing warehouses and call centers with low-quality jobs in wetlands and meadows on the edge of town. Factories that threaten the community with pollution or toxic chemical stockpiles could also enjoy the break. Decades of research has shown that such tax breaks rarely "create" jobs, as proponents claim, but rather simply give millions in public money to companies who would have come anyway for business reasons. Widely accepted research has also shown that most of the new jobs go to people moving to the area rather than the local unemployed. Under state rules for enterprise zones, Hynix could get $100 million in tax breaks for expanding and/or retooling its computer chip factory, even if it only adds one low-wage job. Companies can close and move when tax breaks end and not have to repay the public subsidy. Passing the corporate tax break could also make it difficult for the city to pass tax increases for everyone else. Voters in past elections have voiced complaints that it's not fair for the city to ask for tax increases for school support, libraries and a new City Hall, while at the same time giving away millions to polluting corporations. The City Council appears evenly split on the tax break proposal and is being heavily lobbied by business interests hoping to cash in on the massive give-away. Possible swing votes include Councilors Andrea Ortiz and David Kelly and Mayor Kitty Piercy. — Alan Pittman MONDAYS AT COZMIC A new free media-film-discussion series titled "Public Interest Mondays" runs throughout March at Cozmic Pizza at 8th and Charnelton in Eugene. It features a variety of programs using media, music and discussion to promote the public interest and to encourage participation of the entire community. All events begin at 7 pm.
Global Trends-Local Choices, a one-hour live TV talk show hosted by Jan Spencer, will discuss compelling trends, issues and actions. Global Trends will alternate programs with the new Eugene Media Action film series. On March 7, Global Trends will feature public interest activists Jeanne Marie Moore and Ray Wolfe. Moore is a community activist, with interests ranging from land use, transportation, and diversity to accessibility. Wolfe, a retired UO chemistry professor, has been an activist in Eugene since the '60s. March 14 will be the film An Act of Conscience narrated by Martin Sheen. This documentary chronicles a war tax resisting couple's five-year struggle to nonviolently resist the seizure of their home by the IRS. March 21, Global Trends will feature a panel discussing U.S. affluence, militarism and tax resistance. And March 28, Eugene Media Action presents Weapons of Mass Deception, a new film by Danny Schechter. For more information, call 686-6761 or 343-8548.
FOREST RULES COMMENTS DUE Comments are due March 7 on the new National Forest Management Act regulations. These rules "eliminate the most fundamental wildlife protections, open up millions of acres of national forests including old growth, roadless areas and sensitive wildlife habitat to harmful activities, disregards science and shuts the public out of meaningful input," according to a statement from the American Lands Alliance. Comments can be sent to: USDA Content Analysis Team, Attention: Planning CE, P.O. Box 22777, Salt Lake City, UT 84122 or fax (801) 517-1015. Talking points are available at www.americanlands.org
WAL-MART JUGGERNAUT Oregonians are rallying to oppose the destructive impacts on good jobs, community standards and public services "when the Wal-Mart juggernaut comes to town," according to a statement from the Oregon AFL-CIO. "Wal-Mart is pursuing an aggressive expansion agenda in Oregon this year," the labor group says. "If they are successful, it will mean fewer jobs in our communities and more taxpayer subsidies for their low-wage, low-benefit workforce." Super-centers have been planned for Bend and Gresham and a traditional Wal-Mart has been proposed in Beaverton. A group called Gresham First is fighting against a 203,400-sq. ft. super-center that is being proposed for the corner of Powell Boulevard and 182nd Avenue. In Bend last week, hundreds of people showed up at a neighborhood meeting hosted by Wal-Mart, wearing yellow stickers with frown faces on them. So many came that one attendee reports the fire marshal had to turn people away. Lona Conaway, vice-chair of Central Oregon Jobs with Justice, told the Bend City Council that a net loss of jobs has been reported in other communities following the opening of such a massive outlet. "For every two jobs created by Wal-Mart stores, three are lost in the surrounding community," she said. Conaway also cited a report which found that a Wal-Mart with 200 employees meant a cost of $420,000 in additional taxes to the community, because the low-wage employees need public assistance in everything from housing to food. For more information, visit www.unionvoice.org
PROTESTS BREW FOR MARCH 19 Momentum is growing for a massive march on Central Park in New York City March 19 in protest of the war in Iraq and to "end the occupation of Iraq, Haiti, Palestine and Afghanistan." That weekend marks the second anniversary of the invasion of Iraq and demonstrations are planned in major cities around the globe involving a coalition of antiwar, community, labor and international solidarity organizations. Eugene protests are expected and some local residents may be joining the New York demonstrations. For information on the New York events, visit www.troopsoutnow.org
CORRECTIONS/CLARIFICATIONS In our story on the Dark Star Orchestra last week the names of two band members were omitted. John Kadlecik (lead guitarist) and Kevin Rosen (bass) are also members of DSO. In our music story last week on Deke Falcon, a name was misspelled. The correct spelling of the founder of Happy Mistake Records is Howard Libes.
Hurricane
of Ideas While many of us are nodding off on the couch to late-evening "Law and Order" reruns, dedicated UO law students have been working nights to bring law and order to a world more and more damaged by corporate and government corruption.
Four bleary-eyed student leaders have forsaken beer for caffeine in recent months in preparation for the 23rd annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC), an event that draws an estimated 3,000 of the world's smartest environmental attorneys, scientists, activists and students to Eugene. The event, sponsored by Land Air Water and Friends of Land Air Water, runs March 3-6 and includes 124 panels, 10 workshops, 13 keynote talks and some 35 special events such as films, parties and hikes. Registration is encouraged, and some events fill to capacity, but it's also possible to just show up at the Law School lobby on Agate Street, pick up a schedule and head off to a room. Plan ahead with an updated schedule at www.pielc.org Each spring Law School students vote for their leaders for the next year's PIELC, and this year's foursome is Zack Mazer, Kathryn Moore, Dan Kruse and Rachel Kastenberg. The coordinators oversee a cadre of "gurus" in charge of housing, transportation, child care, tabling, continuing education, special events, technology, etc. Below the gurus are a flock of volunteers overseeing panels and other tasks. The panels and workshops range from legally technical to political, and include sessions on local issues, such as Eugene's Toxics Right to Know Law, the McKenzie River and Oregon land use. Ecofeminism is on the agenda, along with tsunami restoration, vegetarianism, sea turtles and law careers. Thirty volunteers oversee the 124 panels. "Dozens of other people are working on this conference and we have to trust them," says Kruse. "It's such a big event that it's more than just the four of us. We have to make sure we're including as many people and as many ideas as we can." Issues of inclusivity and diversity also permeate the choices of keynote speakers, panel topics and panelists. Kastenberg says the group began compiling lists of potential speakers last summer and gender balance was a big concern, along with representing different cultures. Kruse says the group sought a "diversity not only of people but also perspectives of opinion." One perspective lacking in the conference is a strong presence from polluting industries. But it's not for lack of trying. "We've had a hard time getting industry people here," says Mazer with a chuckle. "For example, we've invited industry people here for panels on cosmetics and cancer." "But," adds Moore, "that's not necessarily the point of the conference. It's for voices that are not typically heard." Why put on such a huge conference? The PIELC is geared to the sharing of ideas, tactics and inspiration across the country and around the world, and Moore says the event is also useful in "exposing students to different types of environmental law. You come in with an idea of an area of law you're interested in and you see a panel or speaker on some other issue, or showing you some other way to attack the law that you had no idea was possible." John Bonine, UO law professor and one of the co-founders of the PIELC along with Mike Axline, says the conference has evolved as a powerful "tool for change" in the environmental movement. The consensus to abandon tree-spiking as a form of protest, for example, came out of the PIELC, he says, along with concepts of environmental justice and racism. The globally influential Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (E-LAW) was also born out of the PIELC, says Bonine. E-LAW had its semi-annual world summit in Eugene this past week, hosting 75 attorneys from around the world, and will be providing many of the PIELC's keynote speakers and panelists (see special section last week). What were the biggest problems in pulling together such an event? The organizers say their professors gave them "some slack" on the academic front to compensate for their countless hours of phoning, faxing, e-mailing and meetings. "But things are constantly changing," says Kozer, "and we have to be flexible enough to accommodate those changes, but it's still frustrating." One last-minute change is the canceling of Rod Coronado's keynote talk Sunday noon. The organizers say Coronado is under a federal indictment for sabotage and is having trouble leaving Arizona. His replacement for the closing address will be Eugene political consultant Dan Carol, along with an audio recorded talk by Jeffrey "Free" Luers, currently serving 22 years in prison for torching three trucks. Kastenberg says one concern is the high expectations people have for the conference. "It's so well established and so many people come here every year," she says, "and a lot of people have very set ideas about what should be offered." A frustration for Kruse is the limited capacity. He says the committee got more than 200 suggestions for topics. "We're busting at the seams with speakers and panels and trying desperately to focus and not have too many things happening," he says. "At the same time it's hard to turn people down." Last year the PIELC expanded into the Lillis Business Center but Mazer says the group heard complaints that "it dissipated the crowds, and people like the energy of having a lot of people in a small space." The conference will be confined this year to the Law School and the Erb Memorial Union. Kastenberg says she was disappointed that she and Moore were unable to get 2004 Nobel Prize laureate Wangari Maathai to attend the conference to receive the David Brower Lifetime Achievement Award. The two students worked four months on making arrangements, found outside donors to cover travel expenses, and Kastenberg alone logged some 38 late-night phone calls to Kenya. Last week the PIELC coordinators got a short break to relax a bit before the onslaught. "We've been told it will be a tidal wave that will come at us," says Kastenberg. "We've prepared the best we can." Mazer agrees, saying, "I feel like I'm sitting in the eye of a hurricane right now."
KEYNOTERS Bill Devall (Thursday evening) is the author of Deep Ecology, Living as if Nature Mattered, a book that inspired this year's PIELC theme of "Living as if Nature Mattered." Fernando Dougnac (Thursday evening) is the founder of Chile's premier public interest environmental law organization and has successfully challenged the Chilean military and government. Leslie Carothers (Friday noon) is the president of the Environmental Law Institute. She is an expert on environmental policy and sustainability in business and government. Gail Small (Friday noon), is the founding director of Native Action, one of the first Native American organizations dedicated to environmental protection, equality and political reform. Dr. Samuel Epstein (Friday evening) is a leading cancer researcher who focuses on avoidable causes of cancer, including cosmetics, food, prescription drugs and other products. Jane Akre and Steve Wilson (Friday evening) are former Fox TV news reporters and the first journalists to use the Whistleblowers Act after being fired for refusing to distort the news. Carla Garcia Zendejas (Saturday noon) is a Mexican attorney working on cross-border issues such as water quality, power plants and law reform. Dune Lankard (Saturday noon) is an Eyak fisherman from the Copper River Delta in Alaska, and is dedicated to environmental and cultural activism. Beverly Wright (Saturday evening) is a Louisiana scholar, advocate and activist in environmental justice. Zygmunt Plater (Saturday evening) is a professor at Boston College of Law and an expert on international environment, property, land use and agency law. Dan Carol (Sunday noon) is a Democratic political strategist who will talk about the recent New York Times article, "The Death of Environmentalism." Jeffrey "Free" Luers (Sunday noon) is an active environmentalist despite being incarcerated and labeled an "eco-terrorist." All keynote addresses will be held in the EMU Ballroom. Tickets are free, but seating is limited. Recordings will be available for all keynoters and most panel discussions.
Making
School Choice Fair Eugene School Board members appear divided on whether to close, merge and/or move alternative schools in response to staff recommendations on how to address segregation in the district's school choice program. Hundreds of alternative school parents packed a school board hearing for four hours Feb. 23 to oppose diversifying the district's segregated school choice system by merging, moving, or closing their "excellent" schools. "Closing excellent schools makes no sense," testified Evergreen Alternative parent Cindy Wright. "In my lexicon, merging means closing." Wright said the district had made "scapegoats" of alternative schools for school segregation and "the media has portrayed us as racists or elitists." But alternative school parent Diane Pergamit said she "wholeheartedly supports" the reform recommendations. "The current system is just not equitable and is just not fair," she told the board. She said alternative schools have "cannibalized" the most well-off and dedicated students and parents from neighborhood schools. "What you see here tonight" with the preponderance of concerned alternative school parents "is a perfect example of the problem." The heavy lobbying by alternative school parents appears to have had an impact. At the hearing, Superintendent George Russell appeared to back away from his reform recommendations, describing them as not in fact recommendations but "possibilities" for the board to consider. At a school board retreat last Saturday, Feb. 26, board members expressed their opinions on each of Russell's proposed reforms by anonymously placing dots on flip charts with arrows ranging from "do not support" to "generally support." Every school board member did not participate, but from the placement of the dots a majority of the board generally expressed: Mixed opposition to reducing fund-raising disparities between rich and poor schools by requiring centralized donations and a 10 percent contribution to an equity fund. An undecided mix on moving or merging alternative schools and ending co-location of alternative and neighborhood schools. Mixed support for providing lottery preferences and transportation for low-income kids. Support for strengthening neighborhood schools with extra money, placing more special education kids in alternative schools, and for attendance boundary changes. Strong support for reviewing alternative schools and creating a position to provide more information about school choice to low-income parents. In placing dots anonymously, board members apparently violated the Oregon Public Meetings Law which does not allow secret votes and deliberations by elected officials. Board members refused a media request to initial their dots so their positions could be identified. When a reporter attempted to photograph the dot sheets, district staff quickly ripped them down. After the meeting staff agreed to allow the public to inspect the public records. The school board plans to act on the recommendations March 9. School Board Chairperson Beth Gerot said a decision on the controversial issue of moving, closing and/or merging alternative schools or eliminating their co-location with neighborhood schools would likely wait until after March 9. "We need a lot more information," Gerot said at the eight-hour retreat. Board members Tom Herrmann and Charles Martinez expressed concerns that reviews could have a negative impact on alternative schools. The reviews should focus on improving the schools and the district should make it clear "this isn't an action designed to close alternative schools," Martinez said. But Russell said that while "probably most" of the alternative schools would pass their reviews, a result of a review could be merging the alternative school with another neighborhood or alternative school or closure. Board member Virginia Thompson said neighborhood schools with poor and minority kids have for years been reviewed and closed in response to declining enrollment, and alternative schools should face the same closure risk. "Why is this any different?" Declining district enrollment will likely mean another round of school closures, Russell said. "We're going to need to close more schools," he said. "What I worry about is we're going to be looking at closing only neighborhood schools." Russell told the board that neighborhood teachers and elementary principals have told him near unanimously that co-locating alternative and neighborhood schools "ain't working." Willagillespie Principal Stella Dadson said she hears complaints that alternative schools recruit students from co-located neighborhood schools and view the neighborhood kids as inferior. Jeralynn Beghetto, principal at Edgewood/Evergreen, said neighborhood school teachers often have higher workloads with special education, non-English speaking students and low-income students, and crowded classrooms with few parent volunteers and donations. Alternative schools lack many of these challenges and the differences create friction, she said. Yvonne Curtis, 4J director of student achievement, said she's heard stories from staff that the elementary kids recognize the unfairness every day. "I'm hearing stuff that's jabbing right to my heart," she said. Board member Charles Martinez said school climate would improve if ending co-location meant "the differences aren't in our face every day." But Board Member Craig Smith said he remained unconvinced that the cost of moving alternative schools was worth it. "I don't think it's way up there in terms of my priorities." Russell said right now it would be difficult to move alternative schools, but such relocations could be an "integral part" of a planned new bond measure to replace deteriorating schools. One option would be to create a new downtown school taking advantage of vacant storefronts and easy bus transportation, Russell said. "One of the neatest things we could do is put a school right in the middle of downtown." Russell said the district should also consider moving the two charter schools from the Willard building in south Eugene where there's already a high concentration of alternative schools taking kids from neighborhood schools. Thompson warned that the board closed and merged neighborhood
schools easily in the past because they had poor parents with little
political voice. In contrast "alternative parents can come at us in
force," she said. But she said the board shouldn't be intimidated from
The board generally supported strengthening neighborhood schools. But Board Member Smith questioned whether the problem with neighborhood schools wasn't funding but the quality of teachers at those schools. Principal Dadson said neighborhood school teachers "should be applauded" for doing so well with the poor, frequently moving students who research shows are the hardest to teach. Blaming lower scores on neighborhood teachers "can be demoralizing to the teachers," she said. With the poverty and high student mobility in neighborhood schools, "it is exhausting to teach in these schools," Curtis said. More resources for neighborhood schools "is critical if we want to meet the needs of our struggling learners," said Janis Swan, who coordinates federal poverty programs for the district. Board Members Herrmann and Smith questioned whether spending more money on neighborhood schools was a budget priority or whether the district could afford it. But Carl Hermanns, a Harvard intern helping the district with school choice, said research shows "school choice won't work unless the under-chosen schools are improved." Russell called long-term increases in funding for neighborhood schools "problematic." But Gerot said it's possible the new Eugene City Council may be willing to help by extending a city levy to support schools. Thompson said the board has to make strengthening neighborhood schools a priority. "We have to make room in the budget."
Undercovered
#42 Government airstrikes, militia raids, rape, torture, and murder continue in Darfur, Sudan, where 218,000 people and 2,000 villages have already been "ethnically cleansed," and 1.9 million people have fled. As the crisis worsens, relief workers plead for stronger international forces, more humanitarian aid, political pressure on Sudan's government and militias, energetic mediation, and bringing those responsible for Sudanese genocide to the International Criminal Court for trial. Security Council members still dither, discussing sanctions, afraid of a U.S. veto against involving the ICC (allafrica.com). The 2006 U.S. budget proposed by the Bush administration features $6.6 billion for nuclear weapons, many of them under development, plus $20 billion for outmoded weapons systems. In Bush's budget, 300,000 children would lose child care; 300,000 working poor lose food stamps. Co-payments for veterans' prescription drugs double (True Majority). As the number of U.S. troop recruits shrinks, incentives soar: up to $20,000 bonuses for four years' active duty. "We must consider the point at which we confuse 'volunteer to become an American soldier' with mercenary," wrote Lt. Gen. Henley, Army Reserve commander. Forty thousand troops in Iraq have been informed that their enlistment has been extended to 2031, a ploy the Army may be using to force troops to "voluntarily" re-enlist (Rolling Stone). Returning troops suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome say that doctors at Walter Reed, the Army's top hospital, try to prove soldiers' mental stress was not caused by combat so the government will not have to pay disability (Salon). In a case called "Brooklyn's Abu Ghraib," Egyptians and Israelis arrested after 9/11 charge in sworn affidavits that New York corrections officers shackled their hands, smashed their faces repeatedly into walls and raped one man with a flashlight (New York Daily News). In Afghanistan, new evidence reveals that prisoners had arms dislocated and noses broken, were raped, threatened with dogs, and photographed in "obscene positions" (Guardian). Those involved were not disciplined, but sent to help out in Iraq. The photographs were destroyed (Mother Jones). A suicide bombing in Tel Aviv Feb. 24 broke "months of relative calm," wrote the L.A. Times. It is important to add that during this "relative calm," since a Nov. 1 suicide bombing in Israel, 16 Israelis were killed, and 170 Palestinians were killed, 32 of them children (Middle East Policy Council). In violation of the Road Map peace plan, Israel plans construction of 6,000 new homes in Jewish settlements on the West Bank (Yediot Aharonot), many between the Separation Wall and Green Line. This heightens Palestinian worries that the Wall is a land grab (Peace Now). The World Council of Churches, a union of 347 Protestant and Orthodox Christian denominations, has urged its members to sell off investments in companies that assist Israel in demolishing Palestinian homes, constructing settlements and building the Wall (beliefnet.com). On Feb. 9 the U.S. House passed the "Real I.D. Act," opposed by groups from Amnesty International to Gunowners of America. Many Republicans and 42 Democrats, including Congressman DeFazio, voted for this bill. It would force states to deny driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants, making highways more dangerous by increasing numbers of unlicensed, uninsured drivers. It would require refugees to obtain documented evidence of persecution from the governments that abused them and empower the secretary of Homeland Security to suspend all laws when constructing barriers along 7,500 miles of U.S. borders. "Real I.D." has not yet reached the Senate (ACLU). A bill sponsored by Republican Sen. Ensign, the Voting Integrity and Verification Act of 2005, mandates a voter-verified paper copy for all ballots. (Sen. Dodd has also authored a voting bill, criticized as being ineffective and expensive.) With strong bipartisan support, VIVA 2005 still needs more co-sponsors. Contact Sen. Smith at 465-6750, Sen. Wyden at 431-0229 (ballotintegrity.org). Workers in the meat and poultry industry have the most dangerous jobs in the U.S. With few regulations in place, workers saw and cut at great speeds and often get injured. Those who report injuries or try to organize face dismissal and/or deportation (Human Rights Watch).
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